leaders that suggest they discussed the prospects of making wealthy people pay for their healthcare. Talk of a ‘two-tier’ service appears in draft minutes of a gathering of health board chief executives held in September.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcone
A bunch of guys, mostly, who are not leaders in any meaningful sense, of an institution based historically on the principle of free treatment for all, were tossing ideas around. One daftie came up with the above. The others laughed.
Someone leaked the draft report to John Beattie or Glen Campbell or James Cook and they thought, whoopee! No one worried about the supposed BBC editorial standards requiring them to evaluate the extent to which this is real news in the public interest.
No, if the real ‘leaders’ of the NHS in the UK, the health secretaries, had got together to discuss such matters and there was a press release, then we might worry about it, but ask managers for any ideas they have about cost-cutting and they’ll come up with a few that will never fly. A few years back, a newly arrived Scottish University principal, from Tasmania via Newcastle, got into the Herald to suggest a return to student fees. A reminder that John Knox had promised free higher education for all, around 500 years ago and that he might want to settle in a bit before shooting off, was required.
Talking-up Scotland 
Making it up as they go along… disgraceful and irresponsible. Hey people can I stress to wear masks in shops and on public transport. I have a dreadful cold/flu/cough type of thing, likely Covid I think with many of the symptoms. I wear a mask outside the house but in future I’m going back to wearing two masks in public I do not care if people look at me weirdly.
I read that new variants might have shorter incubation time, and not show up until later so people could be infectious for longer before they have symptoms. It’s not over yet, though you’d never know that looking at the media message, and devil may care attitudes of folk. 😦
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Meant they won’t show up in testing until well into the symptoms.
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I wear my mask all the time near people Hetty. You still see people wearing them on Perth’s busier streets. I worry when I see infirm people not protecting themselves.
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I wear my FFP2 mask whenever I go inside – shop, train, doctor’s surgery etc. Often only one with mask but that does not bother me and I have to say ho one has ever said anything to me or suggested that I take the mask off. I guess one look at my face, or what they can see of it, is enough to convince them that discretion is the better part of valour.
On the subject of Perth. I was up there about a week or so ago. The first time in a while and was really impressed by the number of shops & cafes that had their doors open ensuring good ventilation of their premises.
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Hope you are well soon.
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As I’d posted on the prior topic –
OT John, I note James Cook has penned a piece “NHS chiefs in Scotland discuss having wealthy pay for treatment” with the usual “Analysis by Lisa Summers” headlining on the UK, Scotland, and Scotland/Politics web-pages published after midnight https://archive.ph/iKcgU
Quite how at the tail end of November they got hold of DRAFT minutes of meeting in September is not explained, but I’d bet some will be very busy first thing trying to find out how.
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Glad you had an archive of the Lisa Summers version as they have changed it to Nick Triggle now.
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Aye, it’s a fairly standard propaganda tactic of HMS James Cook – The most minor edit allows them change the timestamp of the article to appear current, and erase any mistakes they made.
The archive will be overwritten the next time somebody requests it, Lisa Summers for instance.
I noted it had been extensively re-written also…
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And, Mr Triggle wrote that discussions about how the future operation of the NHS in all four countries have been being held for some time.
On the BBC Scotland radio lunchtime news the vice chair of the Scottish BMA was interviewed. Despite being continually prompted by loaded questions inviting her to criticise the SG, she actually made considered responses trying to explain that discussions about how best to organise the NHS to be able to respond in the future have been going on for some time.
The final question from the interviewer was: “What WARNING do you want to give the Scottish Government?”
Fair and balanced???????
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And the BBC UK are gleefully running this story every half hour with their Scotland ‘correspondant’ speculating what ‘might’ happen in great detail.
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And running again in full. 10.20.
The usual tropes – Speclation, could be, suggestions that…, could be sent home, could be stopped, controvertial….. Then ‘context of the pressures of the NHS in Scotland’ – ‘Same as the rest of the UK’…. which is the main point – this is a BBC hit piece to float a narrative that the disaster in England is the same in Scotland.
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I’m sure many will recall having brainstorming sessions during management meetings. Getting all ideas on the table without any filtering, without any discussion or push back from others during the process.
The notion that the long list of ideas so created was anywhere close to an action plan, even close to a draft set of recommendations, would have been thought ludicrous.
But actually it’s not that big a gap in thinking between (a) the (radical?) ‘idea’ that SICK wealthy people should pay more for NHS services than poor people – because the NHS needs more resources – and (b) concluding that ALL wealthy people should pay more in tax to better fund these services.
The latter way shares the extra financial burden most widely between the sick AND the healthy wealthy AND retains the principle of an NHS free at the point of delivery. After all, the Scottish Government, unlike Westminster, doesn’t have a magic money tree!
So why did the latter option not appear in the leaked minutes? Perhaps because in the context of considering what the health boards might be able to do in future, they could conceivable levy charges (with government approval) for NHS services but health boards (of course) can’t raise taxes!
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“So why did the latter option not appear in the leaked minutes?” –
What makes you think it didn’t ?
We have only the James Cook version which as we know from previous experience is highly ‘selective’.
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My suspicions are this non-ferry “story” is intended as distraction to the rallies planned for wednesday following the SC ‘verdict’.
Lesley Riddoch’s initiative seems to have taken on fresh momentum over the last week and now includes one (apparently) in Oxford and various european cities.
Word must gone out from Tory HQ to the “Look, a squirrel” factory at Pacific Quay for a diversion, and just as James Cook did at the Perth demonstration at Perth, he dutifully obliges…
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This propaganda campaign is now almost 18 hours old yet still occupying top spot on HMS James Cook’s Scotland and Scotland/Politics web-pages after several reruns through their Tardis, but note how far James Cook’s creation has vanished off the UK Web-page. The remaining target are Scots.
The second prioritised HMS James Cook/ Eunuch (SO) latest article continues the theme of their own creation with “Nicola Sturgeon says NHS principles ‘not up for discussion’ “, the discussion James Cook personally supervised, now let’s just think about that for a minute………………………….. 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂 etc…
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I have a pile of old rope round the back of my house, if James Cook is looking for something with more substance.
For a supposedly educated man, James Cook is currently well on course to replace Neil Oliver at the rate he is going.
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